Apple Patent Wins, Does This Mean U.S. Import Ban for Samsung

Just this Friday, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that South Korea's Samsung violated two patents of Apple Inc on digital mobile devices. The two violated patents covered the detection of headphone jacks and the operation of touchscreens.  This decision enraged the South Koreans and could spark a sharp disapproval from them. Although Apple and Samsung ranks as No. 1 or No. 2, the ban on Samsung imports to the U.S. has little or no impact on the U.S. economy. People will opt for other options of android phones similar to Samsung than to change to the IOS function of the iPhone. With this course of action, it will only let the already rich Apple Inc profit from the little people that switch from androids to IOS. In addition Obama administration overturned an ITC decision that would have supposedly led to the bans of older models of Apple devices that also violated Samsung patents. This decision obviously shows the Obama administration showing favoritism towards their own enterprise that rose from through the ranks of the market from their own country than Samsung which holds potential threats to Apple Inc as a foreign country. I believe Samsung should not have bans placed on their imports to the U.S., but to adjust their products to something that does not violate the Apple Inc patents.

U.K. Baby Boom Biggest in 40 Years

The huge increase in birth rates just might be the indicator of U.K.'s comeback in their economy. Just from the period of last year, the population has been lifted by 0.7% to nearly 64 million. "Baby Booms" have always been the largest contributing factor to the revival of economies when stuck in stagnation. Similar situations of the "Baby Boom" took place in the United States during Post - World War II, in Canada from 1945 to 1965, in Australia between 1946 and 1961, in the United Kingdom where over 3 "Baby Booms" have occurred throughout their history, and in many other European and South - Pacific places.  The housing market will greatly benefit as more and more parents start purchasing new homes. Additionally, businesses that produce products related to babies, children, and families should eventually see rises in their sales. Another factor that will increasingly boost the U.K.'s economy in the long run is the future growth of the workforce with the rising number of births. Ending this with a quote by Vanessa Rossi, a global economic adviser, "With an increasing population and economy, the U.K. could actually become the largest economy in Western Europe in the next 20 years." She also notes, "Other European countries tend to have much lower birth rates than the U.K."

Walmart Agrees to Safety Changes

Walmart has agreed to make further improvements to the current conditions of the Walmart workers. More than 2,800 estimated stores have took drastic measures to renovate the employees' work environment. Such improvements are made towards the workers who use trash compactors and handle chemicals as part of an agreement contracted with the Labor Department. Walmart has reluctantly agreed to pay a heavy fine of $190, 000 from consecutive violations of the safety rules found during inspections at Rochester, New York. Hazardous situations included unlocked and poorly secure trash compactors, unguarded grinders, obstructed exit routes, negligence towards the training and learning process of workers for trash compactors and the usage of dangerous chemicals. Many other similar situations have been found throughout the United States and stores are now on their ways to reform. Solutions of their problems were to implement more strict and new safety rules as well as hiring a well trained supervisor to look over employees throughout the day. Walmart also agreed to better the worker's knowledge of their usage of dangerous chemicals and trash compactors.

China Exports, Imports Improve

During the month of June, China's exports were on a drastic decline of 3.1%. However, after the month of July came around, China was back on their track with an immediate gain of 5.1%. For imports, it had dropped in 0.7% for China during June, but then had a great leap of 10.9% during July. Among the trades of exports, electronics rose up for another 11.3%. The apparel section did extremely well with an increase of 13.9%. In reports, it states that imports has also risen 20% for crude oil, increase in iron-ores of 27%, and 18% in coal. As a result of this, Chinese stock recorded in the Hang Seng Index was extended by 0.4%. While in the Shanghai Composite Index, Chinese stock furthered their 0.3% loss to a 0.5%.

Detroit's Bankruptcy

I had already known about the disastrous event Detroit had to go through in the month of July, but I did not know how big it was before actually reading about it in depth. Detroit was once a symbol for the United States, a symbol for the United States great industrial power. Detroit's problem came from a declining industry with public services nearing collapse as well as an estimate of about 70, 000 pieces of property lay abandoned. Detroit has become the largest US city to ever file for bankruptcy with a total of $18 billion, an extremely massive amount. Developments will be put in place, however, there includes many other factors that limits Detroit. Crime rates and murder rates were skyrocketing; Detroit was also hit with numerous amounts of scandals over the years. These situations ultimately led to the downfall of Detroit.

The Big Mac Index

The Big Mac Index was published by The Economist in 1986 as an informal way of measuring whether or not the world's currencies are at their correct levels. The Big Mac Index is based the theory of purchasing - power parity (PPP) which is an assumption that in the long run exchange rates would move towards the rate that would equalize the prices of any identical products subject to changes in any two countries. And yes, this was made based on a Big Mac and may or may not sound rational to some of us, but to economists a Big Mac from McDonald's is the perfect example to use. The Big Mac Index was never intended to become something of global standards, but for a simple tool to make the theory of PPP more easily understood. The Big Mac Index is now widely known throughout textbooks and even a term of Burgernomics has been formed.

Greece Slashes Restaurant Taxes

For Greece, they are going through their sixth year of recession and is looking for ways to improve their current situation. As for now, the government has decided to cut down Greece's restaurant taxes by large 10% from 23% to 13%. The ministry of finance expects customer bills to decrease by a total of 8.1%. This, however, is only a temporary tax break and will only last until the end of 2013. Although this tax break may cost the government of some revenue, I believe the outcome will definitely benefit Greece greatly.